YenBai (VNA) – Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Phung Quoc Hien hasasked Nghia Lo town in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai to considertrade, services and tourism as the core of the local economy, given its importantposition in the Northwestern region.

Duringhis visit to the town on March 5, Hien praised Nghia Lo’s growth in trade andservices, as well as its building of a smart town and maintenance ofoutstanding economic models.

Asa cradle of ancient Thai people’s culture, Nghia Lo should step up thepromotion of its culture and people, he said, asking the locality to promoteagricultural production towards high quality and pay attention toindustry-craft industry.

Whilebuilding the town, Nghia Lo needs to roll out both a master plan and specificplanning schemes of residents, embankments and roads, the legislator noted.

Heused the occasion to laud Nghia Lo’s performance in poverty reduction andsettlement of natural disaster consequences.

Atthe working session, Nghia Lo leaders proposed the legislature soon ratify theplan on administrative expansion for Nghia Lo in order to turn the town into acentre of culture, services and tourism of Yen Bai’s western region and athird-tier urban area.

Thelocal leaders also called for the NA’s support for the building of resettlementareas for families in natural disaster-prone areas, and the construction ofbridges, embankments and roads destroyed by downpours and floods.

NghiaLo also proposed the NA and the Government invest in the section connectingNational Highway 32 in Nghia Lo with the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway the IC 14intersection.

Onthis occasion, Hien presented 20 gifts to local poor families affected byflooding in 2017 in Ban Cong commune, Tram Tau district, and Nghia Lo town.

The same day, Hienand his encourage made fact-finding trips to road sections from Mau A town inVan Yen district to Nghia Lo and from Yen Bai’s Tram Tau districtto Bac Liendistrict of Son La province.

Yen Bai was among localities that had suffered great losses from flood andlandslides in October 2017.

The disasters killedsix people, left 16 others missing and injured seven others.

In addition to that,the disasters also ruined 1,251 houses, 73 of which collapsed or were sweptaway completely, badly affected road traffic, and broke six kilometres ofembankments.-VNA